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Thursday, June 29, 2006

I've just put up a new chapter up about my early farm adventures on the Writings From Windridge Farm site. It is a continuation of the auction story I posted a few weeks ago, but in a roundabout way. So when it doesn't seem to make sense, don't think that you're lost (or that I've lost it)--just keep reading. (Click here if you have no idea what this Windridge stuff is all about but wish you did.)

I also thought I would answer some questions and clear up a few details.

1. I lived on Windridge Farm from 1995 until 2000. I do not live there anymore. I now live on the farm you see in all of the Daily Farm Photos with my farmguy Joe (and our collection of critters). It is located in southern Missouri in an undisclosed spot that is even more remote than Windridge.

2. These stories were all written between 1996 and 1998. They are excerpts from ten issues of a newsletter I published during that time called Writings From Windridge.

3. Many of you have suggested that a collection of these stories would make a great book. That's exactly what I want to hear because a book has been my plan all along. The newsletter format was a good way to break down the project into more manageable chunks.

4.So if you are involved in the book publishing world and like my writing--yes, I would love to hear from you.

5. I still have the 1967 Mercedes I brought with me from California, though sadly I haven't driven it in years. It is white with bright red interior, has the biggest trunk I've ever seen, and is named Stella.

6. And as for the anonymous commenters who have apparently been making bets among themselves (!!!) regarding certain details of my personal life, I can only tell you that the ex-husband is alive and well and not buried in the back forty (this isn't a murder mystery). And we're still friends.

Now to the story. Click here to go straight to the new post. Click here if you'd like to reread the last post, "SOLD To The Little Lady Over There!" Oh No!. And click here if you want to go back to the beginning. Enjoy--and thanks for all of your feedback.

I'm SO new to this whole blogger thing. No, I'm not an old lady. I just stay so busy that I never had time to think about blogging. Always been curious about it though. Anyway, I was interested in the fact that you live in Missouri! I was born there, and I lived there for two years. My dad was in the Army, at the time, hence the move. The place where we lived was more like Misery than Missouri. Ft. Leonardwood was a place of nothingness. Hope you love it there! It certainly sounds like you do!

Susan what kind of camera do you have? i'm looking for a good point and shot that I can carry with me. i have a Nikon from work that has way to many bell & whistles.

writing a book is a great idea and publish photos with, similar to your blog. i think it would should your well rounded creativity. i'm a graphic artist by day, i paint, journal, and read alot by night, but i have no skills as a writer. i love that you write what i think sometimes. i read your blog all week until i can get to my own farm on the weekends. thanks

Hi Jade,Yes, poor old Stella is right. She used to turn heads wherever we went. Even when I lived in CA in a county with a population of 500,000, she stood out. People always were saying they'd seen me in such and such a place, etc. Then when she arrived in Missouri. . . woohoo! Nothing like her around. : )

Hi Rusty,Thanks and you're welcome!

Hi Monica,Great! Welcome to the farm.

Hi Beth,There are definitely good and bad parts about Missouri--and I've heard it called Misery more than once. Pretty funny actually. Ft. Leonard Wood is not the best part of the state by far!

Hi Fischtayl Farm,My camera is a Canon Powershot A520. Click here and it will put you on a previous post with a direct link to my camera on Amazon. I also wrote all about it in a comment recently, but I can't remember where. I'm searching for it now, but in the past half hour, my dial-up connection has knocked me offline at least a dozen times, so I'm running out of patience. Grrrr. Anyway, it's a super camera, especially for under $200. I take all my picures on full AUTO mode and they are not retouched in PhotoShop or anything like that. Okay, just got kicked offline again (and again). I'm going to give up and just see if I can publish this comment as it is.

P.S. Thanks for all your kind words about my writing and blog. I worked as a graphic designer for years back in California. : )

Hi Jeff,I was actually thinking about naming the little turtle Jeff (well, Shelby Jeff Taylor), but then I realized that it would be much better to name something after you that I was going to keep around (I'm going to let the turtle go free soon--I think he'll be much happier). Also, despite all the wonderful names people have suggested (I was this close to naming him Tater Tot), and despite the fact that this name is SO overused, he just looks like a Spike to me. But I haven't officially named him that yet. : )

Anyway, I think we can do better than naming a haycart Jeff--though my haycart IS one of my all time favorite farm posessions. I'll have to think about this. : )

Hi Baking Soda,LOL, you always show up at the best times with the funniest comments.

Well, I sat down here with the intention on catching up on all kinds of comments. I succeeded in making it through this one post in about 45 minutes. Well, not yet, as it hasn't been published yet. And thank goodness I always copy my comments before hitting Preview or Publish because this last time, poof! it was all gone. Grrrrr dial-up sucks! : )

My apologies to those of you who are still waiting for answers to questions you asked in other comment sections!

I can't help it--having lived in Springfield for six years, I'm super curious to know if you live anywhere near there, but I can get over it. I wish I were in the publishing industry for your book's sake, but I can only claim to be an English teacher . . . Fun reading.

Hi Farmgirl -I am from southern MO originally, a place called Fairdealing which is so remote that you have to describe it as sort of close to Cape Girardeau and hope people understand that "close to" is a relative term that means two plus hours away....And we had lots of those winding, hilly roads too which is making me speculate as to just where you are - since I still follow the weather thereabouts, my parents still living in the area.Care to give me a small hint?steph from fairdealing, now in Overland Park, KS

Thanks for some great recipes. I grew up in Missouri, with multi-generations before me from the southern part of the state.

I don't seem to find any writings or recipes of yours to extoll the wonderful black walnut... over 90% of the US crop comes from south Missouri. Chocolate bourbon balls made with a Missouri's own McCormick Bourbon (distillery in Weston) with black walnuts are decadent, and maintain flavor and texture quality in the freezer for several months.

I stumbled onto your blog looking for a beer bread recipe and started reading the Windridge Farm stories out of curiosity. Wow. You definitely need to find a publisher. Yours is not the sort of story I would normally be enthralled by, but you are an amazing writer.

Once you've got a major hit with that one, put out a cookbook or two! :)

January 2013 update: I know word verification is a big pain, but it's the only way I can stop the ridiculous number of anonymous spam comments I get every day. I don't want to require commenters to be registered Blogger or Open ID users because I know many of you aren't. Thanks so much for your understanding!

Hi! Thanks for visiting Farmgirl Fare and taking the time to write. While I'm not always able to reply to every comment, I receive and enjoy reading them all.

Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and I especially love hearing about your experiences with my recipes. Comments on older posts are always welcome!

Please note that I moderate comments, so if I'm away from the computer it may be a while before yours appears.

I try my best to answer all questions, though sometimes it takes me a few days. And sometimes, I'm sorry to say, they fall through the cracks, and for that I sincerely apologize.

If you're waiting for a reply to your comment and have a Blogger profile (it's free to create one) you can check the NOTIFY ME box that is below and receive all follow up comments to just this specific post via email.

I look forward to hearing from you and hope you enjoy your e-visits to our farm!